ROOM 211

PART THIRTEEN

16.

'The place where you woke' speaks Henry to Archer. 'Do you think you could bring us back there?'

'Why the hell would you wanna see the place where I woke yesterday? Why not go back to where you woke?'

'It'd be silly to go back to a large open field, now, wouldn't it? You're the doctor. We know of at least four of us waking on the same day within the same town with the same condition, Bonnie says there are eight of us, I don't know why but I believe her. If we are to find answers, then where you woke is as good a place as any to try find some of those answers.'

'We don't know if I am a doctor, and yeah, you are right, I am being silly. That place I woke in; I don't like it. To me it is as if it was some sort of asylum and a rotten one at that. I serious do not even want to speculate as of what is wrong with us being associated with that place.'

'You do think that it is, right, that there is something about that place which is relevant to us?'

'Yeah, after you called and before I could find a way out of that building I came across a room. There had been chains on the outer handles to the entrance of this room. Don't know if something was being kept inside or out. I looked inside and there were eight singular beds ...'

'Eight. That settles it. We must go there.'

'And Bonnie?'

'Yeah, she comes too.'

'You really think that is a good idea?'

'Of course, sure we can't leave her alone and she is the only one so far coming up with anything. You saw her yourself. She is the only one who has got anything from a possible past, no matter how she shows it. If we get to pick up any anything at all then she may be the key.'

'OK, alright, you have swung me. The place is not pleasant; there is something horrible about it. If anywhere can be alive then this place can. If we do go back there, then I hope we are doing the right thing.'

'Anything that moves us forwards is the right thing.'

This is the most with which Archer has spoken about the place he woke since the coming together of himself with his new companions. The hotel they have come to and have spent a night within is of course where Bonnie woke and this room has been given the once over, if anything, it has been given the once over a few times. It seems unlikely that anything new will come from this room.

Henry has gone on about where he awoke on Day One and he is right, there is nothing to be learned from an open field, at that however, Henry is not being one hundred percent truthful. He has not been lying so to speak but has been keeping something to himself for there is all that money with which he is keeping secret.

Henry, Archer, and Bonnie know about Sander coming round in a coffee shop. Now that is an odd one. How does one wake up in a coffee shop with no memory? A coffee shop wouldn't make for a good place for an investigation into possible memory loss and anything that may come with memory loss, and besides they have spoken with Mandy, a barista who works in that coffee shop so from the four places with which four separate individuals awoke, there is only one spot which has possible potential for finding answers. So, a trip to such a place is quite necessary.

Archer has yet to tell of how exactly it is that he managed to get from where he woke on day one to the hotel where, of course, he would stay at with two others, he hasn't had a need to disclose such. Henry had assumed it wasn't all so far away and that Archer must have walked though when he would drive out there under Archer's direction, it would take a little over fifteen minutes by car, the silver car which had come with his own moment of waking.

There is a long gravel lined driveway walkway leading up to this particular building and upon first sight, first apparent sight since memory loss has occurred for two of the three and a first return for the other, the place certainly looks ominous. It looks old and it looks as if this building has not been used in years and in a way, we kind of know that this is not true.

The three companions exit the car and stand looking at the building for a moment or so. It is this moment when Henry picks up on the thought as to how Archer got to the hotel from here, especially as to how quick he had done so though he does not get an opportunity to ask about such for something or rather someone takes the opportunity away from him.

When the three companions made their exit from the car, they did so, leaving it be and open for no more than a moment or so. The sound of it starting back up caught all three of the companions off guard as indeed the car should now be empty.

The instant the car began to rev up, Henry turned. Indeed, caught completely off guard, it took him a couple of seconds to react and when he did react the car had already begun to move. With the passenger side door still open and he himself being closer to that side of the car, Henry runs in an attempt to get to it.

Get to that open door he does and just about at that too, and it is a struggle as a grip he manages to hold onto is with the door and the car itself and this grip allows him to keep moving with the car until he can attempt a dive in and onto the passenger seat, something he just about manages to do, something the other two would have had no chance of being able to pull off.

'Stop the car' he shouts at the intruder. The car keeps moving so he shouts again 'I said stop the car ...'

The intruder attempts to hit him numerous times though Henry manages to grab her wrist and hold on to it forcing her to indeed stop.

'Give me the keys' he says forcefully.

'Let me go' she demands.

'I will do no such thing' Henry continues. 'Give me the keys ... I will not tell you again.'

In defeat she removes the keys from the ignition, hands them over and begins to cry. Henry gives her a moment and seeing that there is no immediate danger he simply sits next to her. He gives her a moment or two before calmly asking a question of her. From how she looks, he can make one or two assumptions.

'What is your name? Can you tell me?'

'You won't believe me if I tell anything to you' she sobs.

'Trust me, anything you have to tell me cannot be any stranger than anything that has come my way in the last twenty-four hours or so, though then again ...'

She turns to look him in the eye and does what she can to hold back the tears. To her he looks sincere.

'I don't know who I am ... I woke in that building with ... nothing ...'

He stares at her for a moment, and she stares back with no idea what to make of this new turn of events.

'Can you tell me when you woke?' he asks, and she does not initially answer. 'Was it today, like minutes ago?'

'No, longer than that.'

'Hours?'

'Yes, but many hours.'

'So, it could have been yesterday?'

'Yes ... maybe ... why?'

'My friends back there and I, we are all in the same boat. We all woke up with no memories; one of them actually woke here yesterday, in that very building.'

Her eyes opened wide in panic. 'There are others here. I wasn't the only one inside that building. I didn't quite see anyone but there are others. Perhaps your friend was one of them.'

'One of them?'

Eight, Bonnie had said there were eight; Archer had said there was a room in here with eight beds. Five people now with memory loss have connected with one another. This building, there must be answers inside. Other people though, who could they be? Where could they be, these possible remaining three of eight? Those responsible for all this, if there is anyone responsible, for the moment at least, such a person, or people don't bear thinking about.

This new addition to the group, she is clearly exhausted. So, what now, a hospital visit? Give her time to rest back in the hotel? What about this building they have come to? If there are others here and still inside, then surely those individuals may be gone if our group leaves and returns at another time. What to do at this moment. One thing for sure is that things are moving along.